In 1864, President Lincoln was frustrated by the inability of Union Generals to defeat Robert E. Lee's forces. Lincoln looked to the western theater of the Civil War to find a winning leader, General Ulysses S. Grant. In March 1864, Grant took command of the entire Union army and began to wage a war of attrition to destroy Lee's army, its civilian system of support, and morale in the Confederacy. In May, Grant moved south and engaged the enemy continuously in a series of bloody battles. Regardless of casualties, Grant refused to back away from the action. On April 2, 1865 Grant began a twenty-mile assault that finally broke the Confederate forces. Heavy casualties, disease, desertions, hunger, and the relentless pursuit of Grant's army combined to sap the strength of General Lee's once formidable army. On April 9, Grant met Lee at Wilmer McCleans's farmhouse in Appomattox and arranged terms of surrender. In slightly more than one year, General Ulysses S. Grant had led Union forces to victory in the Civil War and began to carry out President Lincoln's compassionate treatment of the defeated South. From these efforts, a reunited nation would emerge. A chronology of main events in the life of Ulysses S. Grant is appended. (JP)